What’s the difference between Republican and Democratic scandals?
By Tom Quiner
Republican Congressman Chris Lee was caught sending shirtless photos of himself to someone who was not his wife.
The mainstream media (MSN) was all over the story. Mr. Lee resigned.
Republican Senator Larry Craig was arrested for lewd conduct in an airport restroom. The media gave the story extensive coverage. Senator Craig was pressured to “retire” at the end of his term the following year after facing ethics charges.
Republican Congressman Mark Foley was caught sending suggestive messages to an underage male page. The media covered the story extensively with 152 stories the first twelve days. Mr. Foley resigned.
Democrat Congressman Barney Frank consorted with a male prostitute who subsequently brought his clients back to Mr. Frank’s apartment.
The media went easy on him, as exemplified by this sympathetic reporting in Time Magazine:
“Frank can debate and speak extemporaneously better than almost anyone else in the House, and he tackles some of its more complex problems like immigration and housing.”
Mr. Frank not only did not resign, nor was he pressured to do so by his party, he is still in office today some twenty years later.
Democratic Congressman Gary Studds had a homosexual affair with an underage male subordinate. He was not forced to resign and was subsequently re-elected to office five more times. The House voted to censure Mr. Studds, who showed his contempt for his colleagues by turning his back on them during the vote.
Former Democratic Senator and presidential candidate, John Edwards, engaged in an illicit affair with a campaign worker, with whom he fathered a love child. The MSM chose not to cover the story until National Enquirer exposed the sordid details. The National Review Online’s reporter, Bryon York explains why:
“If news organizations had thrown a lot of resources at the story in an attempt to confirm (or disprove) the Enquirer’s allegations, it’s likely some of them would have come up with something in the two and a half weeks since the Enquirer reported the story on July 22. Instead, there has been nothing.
Is that the result of a group sentiment among journalists? Or have they been under explicit orders not to mention the story? We’ve heard about one such directive, at the Los Angeles Times website. But there are probably others out there. In today’s news environment, executives have to take more explicit steps than in the past if they want to rein in stories. Journalists have multiple platforms; they might mention a story in a newspaper article, a web piece, in a blog, on video, on television, or on radio. For news executives to make sure the Edwards story does not appear on any of an organization’s several platforms, they have to make sure that tight controls are in place. The Edwards story is not invisible by accident.”
The reporters who wouldn’t go after the Edwards story were the same ones who did pursue a story (without merit) that Senator John McCain was having an affair with a beautiful lobbyist.
That leads us to the current scandal featuring Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner. It took some digging by a conservative website to uncover Mr. Weiner’s indiscretions. Will Mr. Weiner be forced out?
History shows us that Democrats don’t get too worked up about this sort of thing, so he may be able to weather the storm. We know the MSM won’t go after him like they would a Republican.
If he were a Republican, he’d already be out the door.
Funny. There are additional GOP incidents that you failed to mention. The men stayed on. Ensign. Vitter. Both guilty of criminal acts, but not prosecuted then, or yet. Ensign, not only committed criminal acts, but he brought other Congressional members into his sordid affair, Their shared cover-up in itself was a criminal act. We do not know yet what deals were made for testimony. We won’t until Ensign goes on trial.
John Edwards was not a sitting Senator at the time of his affair. He was a candidate, yes. And he is under indictment. The press did cover the rumors. They were denied. There was a payoff. She kept silent. It was her friend that went to the National Enquirer and broke the story. The mistress remained silent until she was harassed to the point of no return. The irony, the mistress and her ‘friend’ are no longer friends since the National Enquirer paid the friend well into the 6 figure mark.
With the Gary Studds case, He was censured in 1983. His activities were with a 17 year old. (Studds was over 40) Sick, but over the legal age for sexual consent. The teen’s own testimony in front of the House indicated that the relationship was consensual. Unethical behavior, absolutely. Illegal, no. At least, not in the time before sexual harassment laws.
Since Bill Clinton, there have been about a dozen sex related scandals covered in the MSM. About 3/4 of the admitted offenders are GOP. Out of these, only one (Chris Lee) resigned immediately. His resignation WAS what spawned the investigation as to “WHY did he step down?”
Foley had to be forced out by his own party. In this day and age, no one wanted to be on record supporting a drunken pedophile. When additional accusations came to light, with a pattern of behavior becoming apparent, Foley finally resigned. Thereby killing criminal charges against him.
Democrats may not get all worked up about sexual behavior. At least they do not run on platforms claiming a higher morality than other people because of alleged family values. The GOP platform has a litmus test of being “family friendly”. Hence, gayness is unacceptable. Birth control is off limits. Family planning is on par with infanticide. Rape and incest victims, should quit whining and have a child conceived in a horrifying and/or brutal memory, according to most GOP members. Democrats don’t go around claiming to be for smaller government, but wanting to have neighbors turn in people for sexual behavior between consenting adults in the privacy of their own home. Democrats don’t claim a desire for smaller government, yet demand Doctors inform all patients of nonscientific information based only on religious principles with no verifiable data to support it. Democrats don’t try to scare people about those that are different. They try to learn about outsiders, for the most part. Rather than demonize someone for being different, Democrats believe ALL PEOPLE ARE CREATED EQUAL, not just the white males of European descent.
“Democrats believe ALL PEOPLE ARE CREATED EQUAL, not just the white males of European descent.”
Really? Read some of the quotes below and ponder the fact that these are quite racist statements from leaders of the Democrat party.
“You cannot go to a 7-11 or Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian Accent.” -Senator Joe Biden
“You’d find these potentates from down in Africa, you know, rather than eating each other, they’d just come up and get a good square meal in Geneva.” – Fritz Hollings (D, S.C.)
Blacks and Hispanics are “too busy eating watermelons and tacos” to learn how to read and write.” — Mike Wallace, CBS News.
“Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.”- Former Klansman and US Senator Robert Byrd
“I’ll have those n*ggers voting Democratic for the next 200 years.”- President Lyndon B. Johnson
“I think one man is just as good as another so long as he’s not a n*gger or a Chinaman. Uncle Will says that the Lord made a White man from dust, a nigger from mud, then He threw up what was left and it came down a Chinaman. He does hate Chinese and Japs. So do I. It is race prejudice, I guess. But I am strongly of the opinion Negroes ought to be in Africa, Yellow men in Asia and White men in Europe and America.” -Harry Truman (1911)
I will simply say this: both sides of the aisle have had their moments of shame. I believe both sides have grown and have made strides to judge a man by the content of his character, not the color of his skin. The point I made, and I think you reinforce, is that the powerful Mainstream Media is one-sided in their reporting on racism. We’re witnessing it all over again in the tragic case of Trayvon Martin.